The biggest challenge you can do in climbing is to try to onsight it, i.e. having no beta of how to execute the moves. This means also quite moderate climbs can turn into great test-pieces. Also Adam Ondra started off with a focus on onsight and this is what I always have told the eager parents to prodigy kids. Just let them climb as many routes and boulders as possible onsight. This will reduce the grade hysteria and instead focus on solving puzzles. I mean, why should you as a parent try to guide them where to put the foot or in which order they should take the hand holds, when you do not have a clue anyhow. Her are some further comments of Brandon Sullivan, after reading the avove draft article. He is a father of three sons 5, 7 and Keegan 9, who just came back from a Hueco Trip. "By the end of the trip, Keegan had onsighted dozens of routes, including many classics. His proudest onsights were Big Iron on His Hip V7 and Hector in a Blender V7. He nearly flashed Better Eat Your Wheaties V9. He was confused on some of the moves and talked them out prior to his first attempt. After he worked his way through the crux, he hit a “rest” crimp and asked for the next move. I didn’t think he could span to the next decent hold so I suggested an intermediate. He went for the smaller hold and fell. Turns out, he could reach the better hold and sent next go. Maybe if dad didn’t spray he would have achieved the flash! As a parent of budding youth climbers, I fully endorse focusing on onsights. It opens the entire guidebook to challenges regardless of grade, and adds a lot of fun to a day outdoors. It’s also a great method for practicing for indoor competitions, and takes the pressure off of constantly projecting at the top of one’s limits."

Alex Puccio, who won the only WC she did 2018, has decided to not go for Tokyo 2020. As most of her competitors will also train Speed and Lead, getting worse in Bouldering, there is a golden opportunity to win both the World Cup and the WCH, everyone focusing on the Olympics the two coming years.

Visa det här inlägget på Instagram

Long post! Over the past 5-6 months I have been consistently thinking about the direction I want to take in my climbing career and where my heart truly lies. The decision I was faced with is to try or not to try for the Olympics. Mentally this has been very though for me, going back and forth with my thoughts. At first I said “YES, I want to try!” BUT then after some time I kept feeling like I maybe didn’t want to go down that road. I started to realize that I wanted to push for the Olympics because it sounded pretty cool and that I had always done competitions so I might as well. But then I stared to listen to my heart and mind a bit more and realized that I wasn’t really into training for Speed and Lead. I still love competing, BUT I also LOVE climbing outside! I truly believe that if I was going to make the push for the Olympics then starting now I wouldn’t be able to climb outside that much this year, maybe a few days here and there. And then if you made the Olympic Team it would be another 6 months on top of that. This is because you would have to train your a** off for all 3 disciplines. If the Olympic format was individual disciplines then I would have loved to try for it! I strongly believe that the main reason I have had such a long competition career and still going is because for the past 4 years I mainly climb outside and a couple weeks before a comp I’ll go in the gym to practice some comp style boulders. It has been working for me physically and most importantly MENTALLY! :) I’m just about 30 years old and I don’t feel like taking up another discipline, speed, and giving up my LOVE for climbing outside for such a long time. Sure, if someone handed me a ticket to the Olympics I would LOVE to go and it would be so much fun I bet, but that’s not how it works. Lol

Paul Robinson, who has done 924 boulders 8A and harder, out of which a couple hundreds FA, has published a great video of his FA of Karoshi 8C in Hueco Tanks. "Karoshi was a line that I found with my good buddy Keith. We were going over to see the newly reopened new map of hell. When we got there, we were blown away by this line that went straight out of the center. It looked possible and I went to working trying to figure out the moves. I spent multiple days that trip on the line but with the warm temps, I left Hueco for the season. I came back to Hueco in December of 2018 with one objective, to climb this boulder! I trained hard before the trip and felt stronger on the project than on it the season before! I was psyched and after a few more days of working it, I was able to make the first ascent of this crimpy and powerful test piece! I cannot wait for others to try this one!"

Oriane Bertone has done another three hard boulders in Rocklands; Sassy squash 8A, The arch 8A+and The Master Key in Rocklands. "Fantastic hidden boulder ! One hard move. I found my beta at the third session and solve this problem. Very happy for this ascent! In total, the 13 year old has now done 39 boulders 8A to 8B+, out of which 19 the last 12 months and she is #2 in the 8a ranking game. One more 8B, and she takes over the crown from Isabelle Faus.

Isabelle Faus has done her 17th 8B, The Wheel of Fortune in Clear Creek Canyon and she is #1 in the 8a ranking game. In total, she has now done 107 boulders 8A to 8B+. Next project is Memory is Parallax 8B+. "Started trying last year. Two of the moves took me like ten sessions to be able to do... super outta my style... one huge move and another really dynamic pop. Coming of an injury I was kinda using this boulder as a way to learn how to do big moves. Last year after a lot of effort I eventually made my way to the last move... and then we flew to Swiss the next day. This year I got back to my high point quickly and fell there a bunch. Then yesterday I found slightly better beta for this move and did it pretty quick after that. Really satisfying to do moves easily that last year seemed crazy... next is the top section and try and link em."

Dalton Bunker, who has done five 8c+' in 2018, has done his first 9a through the FA of In Hell I'll Be in Good Company".

Jan hojer, #3 in the Combined WCH in Innsbruck, has done his second 9a route, A Muerte in Siurana. His first was Action Directe in 2010. The 186 cm tall and 78 kg powerhouse has also done the 9b DWS, Es Pontas last year. "My only goal for the 2019 season is to qualify for the Olympics. If I qualify at the world championship I will spend a lot of time on rock afterwards! Right now I just want to enjoy some rock before the season starts and climb a bunch of nice routes here in Spain." How many World Cups do you plan to do this year? As many as I need to qualify for Toulouse. (The qualification event for the ones not getting their ticket in the WCH). If I have great results in Meiringen and Moscow I will not go to China. How much Speed focus in your training? I try to train speed once a week but haven’t done any leg training. I think with better coordination and technique I can still improve a lot. I hope to get to 6.7 until the world championship.

Toni Lamprecht, legendary hard core FA-ionist in all disciplines; 9a routes, 8C boulders, 8c MPs and 8c DWS, has recorded his sends from 2018. On the pic he shows god adaptation to the modern school with his double dyno of Seitensprung 8c in Kochel. Add to that 8c+ and 8B boulders FAs. With his 88 kg on his 187 cm, the 47 year old might be the biggest multi-discipline climber operating world class level. In total he has put some 2 000 boulders, routes, MPs and DWS. 8a interview from 2009 - Insta 2019. What are you most impressed by the new generation? The most impressive is the huge number of very very good climbers and a lot of them almost unknown, too. And of course the top five people doing everything from boulder to multipitch and they seem very "grounded" and open minded. Wish the political world would have leaders like that.. How do you train nowadays and what is your 2019 ambition? Normally 2-3 times in the week. I rest if I go skiing or in the summer while surfing. No training the last years only climbing outdoors or trying projects, because my "old" body needs a lot of rest after every climbing day. In 2019 I'd like to try a really hard boulder project nearhome (15m roof), work on the FSK-Project, a possible solid 9th-grade-route and travel a lot for skiing.

Keegan Sullivan, who did his first 7C when he was 7 years old having climbed in just over a year, has done two 7C+'s in Hueco Tanks; Dead Serious and Stubby of the Bush Veldt. During the week he also sent three 7C's and onsighted two 7A+' and three 7A's. His father Brandon comments, "Being in Hueco exemplifies what we love about climbing. In traditional sports, few athletes have the opportunity to engage with the professional experience. Yet in climbing, we can visit the same venues, read the same beta, and pull on the same holds as the legends that precede us. Keegan loved the opportunity to send problems that have been ticked by many of his idols." Family blog with more pics and info about also his two younger bouldering brothers Killian (7) and Lochlann (5).

In 2005, 8a presented a suggestion for Practice and Ethics in Sport climbing which can be said to be the first guidelines in climbing and it has worked out quite well with the traffic light system. "In sport climbing, compared to most other sports, there are few written rules or use of referees. Instead, the climbing community creates and circulates their own Practice & Ethics. Beginners are sometimes struggling to understand what is "normal" behavior and what's allowed and what's not. Over time, the general procedure has been modified and in different subcultures different ethics apply." Two year later we presented some bouldering ethics but it did not include guidelines for flashes and onsights. Here is the 8a suggestions and please feel free to comment. Flash: It is OK to watch a video and touch any holds you can reach from the starting position. If it is a roof near the ground it would NOT be OK to feel every hold and work the sequences just by dragging a foot on the ground. You are not allowed to rappel down the boulder and look at all holds. Once you leave the ground you can NOT reverse and save the onsight as sometimes is done in route redpoints. Onsight: You are only allowed to touch the holds you can reach from the starting positions. If it is a roof or traverse, you are allowed to look at all holds. You are allowed to get beta where the line goes and where it tops out. You can discuss the beta with any person who has no knowledge about the climb. Your friends are not allowed to say anything but cheering you on. It should be noted that onsight bouldering is quite rare and we seldom report it. At the same time, 8a thinks this is the best style for kids. Having a coach or parent telling them where to put the feet and hands are not so educational and fun for the kids.